NZXT Tempest EVO Review - PAGE 4

The Tempest EVO will be tested by running the OCCT 3.0.1 tests: CPU, GPU, and Power Supply. High and Low temperatures will be recorded with HWMonitorx64 after a continuous burn-in of 30 minutes. Between each test I will allow the system to equilibrate for an additional 30 minutes.

Temperature data will be recorded at the processor, the video card, the hard drives, and the chipset. Ambient air temperature was recorded with your standard glass-alcohol thermometer. Throughout the testing the ambient room temperatures never varied from between 24°C and 26°C (74°F).

For all of this testing: the CPU cooling fans were set to 100%, the videocard fan was left on auto, and the case-fans were left at their only speed.

Test Setup

Processor: Intel Core i7 - 930

Motherboard: Asus P6X58D-E

Memory: 3x2GB Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 1600MHz 6-8-6-24

Video Card: ATI Radeon HD5870

Optical Drive: LG 10XBD-ROM, 16XDVD-ROM SATA

CPU Cooler: Noctura NH-U12P SE2

OS: Windows 7 x64

Power Supply: Mushkin 800W Joule

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB ST31000528AS

Test Results:

The Tempest EVO by NZXT delivered surprisingly decent cooling numbers. I had expected it to post higher temperatures with the poorly designed front intakes, but the side panel fan really saved this case from the heat build-up. The left-panel fan being the savior was really driven home to me after a few weeks of testing because the wire mesh protecting the fan blades here had significantly more dust build-up than the front panel filters, which had next to none. This is clear evidence that the convoluted route that airflow has to take through the drive-bay cover mesh, the dust filter itself, and finally the metal grating over the fan blades is severely hindering the cooling performance of what would otherwise be a stellar case. If you were one who bought computer cases with the end-goal of modding them, then this case would be a rock solid starting point in my opinion.

Interestingly, there was an additional set of data for this case that fellow Neoseeker reviewer Chris Ledenican had gathered earlier this year. I have graphed his temperature results alongside my data as a point of comparison. The difference between our systems is centered in the processor, where he tested using an AMD Phenom II X4 965 BE processor on the ASUS M4A89GTD Pro motherboard. We both used the ATI Radeon HD5870, but he was using drivers 10.6 while I had the newer and better tweaked 11.6 version.